Well said. No, perfectly said.

Absolutely the best rationale for freeing Iraq I've seen or are likely to see.

I'm sending that every where I know.

The one that got me was the description of excavating mass graves and finding the remains of small children with toys still clutched in their hands.

God forgive us, God forgive me, for not doing more to stop this evil man sooner.

Good work Frank.

Let me venture a guess: what got you so pissed was the tone of voice of the little snot-nosed reporters who were barking questions at the soldiers at the press conference this afternoon. I listened to the questions on the car radio and the only thing I could think of was: what has this little twit ever done that even remotely qualifies him to carry that soldier's jock strap, let alone ask questions in such a blatently hostile manner? What HARD thing has he ever done in his life?

At least that's what has me pissed today.

My utter disgust came about when I watched an ABC News reporter near breathless with joy at finding "proof" of US soldiers mishandling the HDX in al quaqua.

It just got me thinking about editorial decisions and man hours spent on what stories. It was as if in the second world war reporters walked right past the concentration camps to make a report on how IBM worked with Hitler. There has been no reporting of the horrors of saddam because to do so is to place the invasion and occupation in its correct context.

I don't have trackbacks enabled, but I commented on your great post.

Justification

http://www.lookingglass.mi.org/web_blog/archives/000296.html

In my post just before that one, I go off on the Media for their desecration of the actions of all the people who died for their right to have a free press.

Do you know how much I wish you'll be successfull with your work??
Don't stop it, you're doing wonderful!
The best luck of all from Cologne/Germany!

Bravo.

Every registered voter in this country needs to read this.

Frank-
Your career as a big media commentator is toast. You missed the story - 15% of Iraqis don't have electricity! Where's the outrage!
Two years at Columbia's School of Journalism should set your straight.
Don

I've posted trackbacks to two related items, The Cost of Containment and Sanctions: Exhibit A, above, from my blog. I share your outrage, especially at those who weep self-righteous tears over the pain and suffering of the Iraqi people at American hands. I would like both to express support and join you in your effort to make sure that people understand precisely what pre-war Iraq looked like. I have posted additional materials and links which, while in less compelling form than your narrative here, confirm its accuracy.

Powerful and moving. I was swept back to the scenes I saw in 1991 in southern Iraq. I'm sickened by the morally bankrupt among us who try to marginalize and ignore this holocaust.

What you talk about here is All the justification needed

Eric

We do care and we do know what happened in Iraq. Those of us who understand the atrocities of Saddam will vote for President George Bush on Tuesday!

How many iraqi's died from the beginning of the war until now ?Was it worth it .You can call it colateral damage if you like but to me it makes Mr bush a mass murderer in my eyes now and forever.He is the spark that ignites the flame for Bin laden and laden would love having this hot head around to further his cause.

The truly sad/disgusting part is that you could show this to a smart-ass lib (i.e. Zorn) and their reaction would be a blank stare and a response of "AND YOUR POINT?"

They are like Tommy Lee Jones' Sam Gerard - "I don't care..."

Amen.

How quickly they forget.

Thank you, Varifrank. About time someone said and showed it this well. I am in a different country - Afghanistan - but the reasons seem all too similar here too.

You should put up a link to the Iraqi Mass Graves site. There are many, many more pictures.

And Kerry whines about how much money we spent.

Sick fucker extraordinaire!!

Thank you for putting this together. I'm sitting here in tears after reading this. I've been up since 1:30 this morning when my drunk moonbat brother called me asking me how I could possibly consider voting for Bush. I wish my brother would read this and see the pictures, but he won't. He doesn't want to. He's stuck in the 70s with John Kerry. Neither one of them ever grew up.

This is a wonderful post. I can only think of one thing to add: voicesofiraq.com. 150 DV cameras were distributed to ordinary Iraqis in the spring of 2004. They taped themselves & their families -- their stories, moving, inspiring, funny, brave, and insightful and have been expertly edited together. The documentary (Voices of Iraq) is showing in major cities nationwide - LA, New York, WAshington, DC, Minneapolis, Dallas & some others (go to the site to see what cities). And, you can rent the DVD from Netflix or buy it.

This documentary completely puts the lie to MSM "reporting" on how badly it's going in Iraq --the Iraqis are grateful to the U.S., uncowed by terrorists, although, of course, concerned about security, and *completely dedicated* to building a democracy.

The MSM has no interest in this story. Shame on them, shame, shame, shame.

Think we can get CBS to do an election eve expose using this material? It near well makes a grown man want to break down and cry. Thanks.

We all know that the media quislings are sitting on horrifying facts that they have chosen to suppress because of their ideological handicaps. This is painful to read, but it is the reality that has been hidden from us. This should make any decent human being see blood red, too. That so many can dismiss these evils as "not our business"... I have not words enough to despise them.

If we saw more reality in the news, and less desperate scrabbling for self-validation, then every American would understand the idiocy of calling our President "the greatest danger to peace" in the world. The only peace offered by Saddam Hussein--and all the other faces of evil in the world--is the peace of the grave. If you do not choose to fight, then you are choosing to die.

Thank you Frank. I wish that everyone - and I mean everyone could read this.

Kind of makes you wish that Reagan hadn't sent Saddam support and weapons for most of the 1980s. We were responsible to depose this man because we were did too much to keep him in power and give him weapons to kill with. We were responsible then and we need a responsible foreign policy now.

Sean,

You really need to get your facts straight. Yes, we sent some weapons to Saddam in the 1980's. However, we were 11th on the list of those who sold weapons to him. Even Belgium and Denmark sold more weapons to Saddam than we did, let along Germany, France and Russia. The difference was that it was a different time and different enemies then. It is like having Germany for an ally and the USSR for an enemy after having Germany for an enemy and the USSR for an ally. Would you rather we had gone against the USSR and for Germany in World War II? Sounds like it to me.

I agree with you dick there sure is a whole load of munitions dumps in iraq filled with Russian and Chinese weapons. RPG's arent made in the US and niether are AK-47's.

Carolin. please grow up .

Sean. the support given to Saddam by the U.S, came to about 1.2% of the total. Things like photos and intercepts frpm Khomaini's Iran .Now, want to get all righteous about saddam's armourers , look at Russia/Soviet Union,France and the Chicoms. These three nations comprise 86% at bottom of Saddam's weaponry.

The Greatest force for good in this world still remains the American Soldier. As it was along the Marne, into the misery of the New Guinea Jungles ,to freezing muddy Alsace ,to agonizing frozen Korean hills, to the triple canopy of Viet Nam to the Baghdad Thunder Run, there stands the guarantor of all here . Those who choose to denigrate him do so with the blood shed by men far better on their bad days than the intellectually derelict poseurs who whine and carp have in their ineffectually miserable lifetimes. In my heart and soul, you may burn slowly in Hell. For those who understand this precious jewel we have , then we needn't burden ourselves with the nihilist gnats of the moonbat Left. We have far better amongst us, giants if you will, to look to and honor.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow, the United States Army.

Okay, so that's it. Operation Iraqi Freedom is justified because Saddam killed alot of people. Point taken, and wholeheartedly agreed. Now I ask you this:

1. If it's so damn important, why does GWB have to borrow the money to fight it? Just like in every other war that Americans have faught, we were willing to sacrifice. Not here. Here George wouldn't ask for a tax increase during wartime, he just figured he could borrow it so nobody would be bothered. THAT is why I won't vote for the guy.

2. So when do we go into Darfur? Thirty thousand dead there, and projections show about 100k dead by New Year's, but nobody talks about that. How about the Congo? A million dead there, but you Great Republican Protectors just sweep that under the carpet.

I guess you people support protecting the world, as long as you get to decide which part to protect. Maybe you should tell the cops that. Only protect Arabs in rich neighborhoods. Nevermind everyone else.

So do nothing then is that it? There was a time when the left was against Tyranny. Today it stands shoulder to shoulder with monsters.

I wasnt always a conservative, thanks to the defeatists of the left, I have become one.

Sean, I can imagine your lips moving and forming the words to your post, but all I can hear (for the bazillionth time) is the tiresome "blah, blah, blah" of the hackneyed "We Created This Monster" canard.

Examination of records shows that from 1973-1995, US arms sales to Iraq totalled $US5 million.

In contrast, Britain's sales totalled $330 million, Germany's $995 million, China's $5.5 billion, France's $9.24 billion, and Russia and the Soviet Union's $31.8 billion. These are the FACTS.

So, yes, you could say that the US supported Saddam in the past, but we were far from alone in this matter, and quite a bit less active in arming him than every major nation that later opposed efforts to remove Saddam from power.

Don't just move your lips to from those emtpy words, Sean. Provide some evidence to support your position.

Prove it.

People are not connecting the dots.

I know. It has been a long hard fight and we are all a little punch drunk.

The RDX and similar stuff are components of nuclear weapons. The WMD site is right out in plain view. And people are worried about killing a few of our soldiers with the stuff. When the big worry ought to be with all the lax security of the IAEA how do we know Saddam wasn't working on the most difficult aspect of a bomb. The explosives.

Lon,

If Sudan or the Congo is ever fixed it will be fixed by either the US or Australia. The international community has ignored it. The UN has responded by passing a non binding resolution and by appointing Sudan (that would be the country causing the genocide) to sit on the UN human rights commission.

The fact that the UN couldn't do anything about genocide in Rwanda or Sudan or the Congo shows how utterly worthless the UN / international human rights community is.

You seem so concerned about human rights but because Bush did not raise your taxes you are going to vote against the man who has relieved more human suffering in the four years then the international community has in the past ten. You hypocrite.

Dear Sean,
Apparently you don't get it. While it may have been in our geopolitical interest to have Iraq keep Iran in check in the 1980s, nothing - absolutely nothing- we did could have been used to justify what these pictures show. We were not directing Saddam's interal affairs and we certainly never condoned them. Your blame America first approach would totally absolve Saddam of responsibility for his actions. Under your theory, Stalin's murder of 9 million of his people is excusable because we were allies in WWII and the turning over of Jews by the Vichy government in France is absolved by our alliance with French forces. Not a good argument.

Thank you, Frank, for getting mad enough to do this.

Thank you for posting this. I sit here in horror looking at those pictures. How can ordinary people not feel ashamed and sad when they look at the loss of life - actually not loss - theft of life. I hope to God those who agree with John Kerry look at these pictures and visualize the same shots in Iowa or Illinois. That's what the goal of our enemy is - to see us all in body bags. Doesn't sound like a nuisance to me - it is an open, clear and present danger. Thank God there are people like you who will show what reality is - and not what the MSM tries to push as the important truth of the day.

We could have - We SHOULD have - stopped this subhuman piece of excrement in 1991. I was in the desert.

I understand the reasons that we did not go to Bagdad then, but we should have gone anyway.

I hav'nt cried like this since i spent a day in the Holocaust Museum in DC. DAMN YOU!!

May whatever Gods there are have mercy upon out souls.

By the way - bite me Lon. Ya can't do everything all at once.

Whiney little shit.

Lon:
Why wait for the government to raise your taxes? There are so many organizations, like Spirit of America who can funnel anything you're prepared to contribute, directly to our troops to fund the kinds of projects which help win minds and hearts on the ground. It's a far more efficient use of your hard earned $$ than running them through the usual (expensive!) bureacratic channels.

When it comes to Darfur, the U.S. is about the only country who has shown any interest in bringing a halt to the ongoing slaughter. The Chinese and the French have major oil interests in Sudan, and have resisted pressure to officially label what is happening there a genocide. Doing so would automatically trigger U.N. intervention which, as in Iraq, is not in their economic self-interest. The U.S has finally shamed the international community into publicly acknowledging that bad things are happening there. The resulting inaction is a direct result of going the international route. Anyone who has condemned U.S. unilateralism -- although I don't know whether or not you fit into this group -- is not in any position to complain

No Bin Laden
No second term

9/11 was to important to be treated like Bush did.

For the life of me I don't understand why Bush didn't monopolize with massive Ads on this issue along with all the good things that has happened in Iraq due to our ousting the "Butcher of Baghdad" I pray to God there is a backlash by the voters aginst the liberal media and all its misinformation. I won't allow myself to believe the American people are cold hearted and simply don't care. Watch both Bush and Kerry speak in their Ads, look closly at their eyes and observe who is speking from the heart and who is speaking with no heart.

This is laughable. First of all, your rant about the liberal US media is a bit dated. Right wing commentary controls the radio and cable news sectors (e.g., the people who have been spreading your bogus story about the Russians and the UN losing the explosives). Also, even in print media, 208 papers have endorsed Kerry, while 199 have endorsed Bush. hardly a left-wing media bias among traditional media. So I don't think we need to worry about a "coordinated effort" by the US media to propel Kerry to victory (he'll do that all on his own).

Second, the Iraq holocaust wasn't why we went in there. It was WMDs, remember? Oh wait, I know, W has given mutiple reasons for the invasion after the fact (sounds like a flip flopper to me).

Third, and most obvious, you're saying we helped the Iraqi civilians by ousting Saddam, while killing 100,000 civilians along the way? Ever hear the one about cutting off your nose? I know, the Johns Hopkins study was politically motivated to help propel Kerry to victory.

But I'm glad to see such devotion to human rights. When do we invade Sudan? Keep up the good work! One day left for you guys!

Any reasoning we had for invading was made moot by the discovery of the first "Childrens Prison" on the 4th day of the Invasion. We may not have gone in for that reason, but once we discovered them, and the mass graves, nothing else mattered.

Bingo! I said that very day when I read about the Children's Prison, "I don't care about WMDs, UN Resolutions, Chemicals, Republican Guards...These kids are all the reasons to go in and take that bastard out." I still can't believe people who scream and rant about "bombing innocent children" will turn a blind eye to Saddam's "Children's Prison" and pretend there was no such thing. Cripes! I pray that Tomorrow goes well for President Bush. I just have a terrible feeling the whacko left will win, and I fear for our future...for my daughter's future...

During the Cold War, the Left complained when the US supported anti-communist authoritarian governments. In the past 3 years, the US has deposed two of the worst dictatorships on the planet. And guess what. The Left is still not happy.

The political Left, moving the goal posts before goal posts were even invented. Lenin's useful idiots are alive and well.

Sean, re: "Kind of makes you wish that Reagan hadn't sent Saddam support and weapons for most of the 1980s."

The overwhelming majority of the weapons Saddam used in the '80s came from France. Ours constituted less than 10%, and involved supporting the lesser of two evils.

By your logic, it was FRANCE who had more responsibility to stop Saddam than anyone else. So where the hell are they?

Those pictures surely show what we're dealing with in the Middle East.

OT

Best poll for undecided voters;

Since 1956, Weekly Reader students in grades 1-12 have correctly picked the president

http://www.weeklyreader.com/election_vote.asp

Weekly Reader kids select Bush in Presidential Poll

The students who read Weekly Reader’s magazines have made their preference for President known: they want to send President Bush back to the White House.

The results of this year’s Weekly Reader poll have just been announced, and the winner is President Bush. Hundreds of thousands of students participated, giving the Republican President more than 60% of the votes cast and making him a decisive choice over Democratic Senator John Kerry.

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So, when are the US going to invade Sudan to stop the atrocities in Darfur. Come to think of it, I can think of a whole slew of dictators that are on the nomination to be ousted. By the US army I wonder? Or is that UN territory and Iraq wasn't?